Page 69 of The Royal Curse

“Like I’ve told you from the beginning, well worth being hanged,” he said, and swooped down to claim my mouth, hot and hard.

I had one last thought, that I really hoped the poor bastard outside our door had left to go down to the hall for dinner, and then I didn’t think about anything else at all for a long, long time.

Chapter Twenty-Five

We crested the highest foothill above Surbino on a bright, breezy, chilly day two weeks later, the icy mountain wind at our backs and the softer, balmier sea air sweeping up to meet us. The city looked exactly the same as it had a lifetime ago—although since that lifetime had comprised only a little over a month in total, including the journey home, it shouldn’t have seemed so shocking.

But whether or not my home was the same, I’d changed irrevocably in that month.

Without a word, Andreas and I both reined in, with Salvius, Ludo, and Piet coming to a halt a few feet behind.

I glanced over at Andreas and found him gazing at me, not at the view of the gleaming gold and white city with its brightly colored tiles and the sparkling silvery river and sea beyond. The little smile playing around the corners of his lips and the light in his eyes suggested he didn’t feel like he was missing anything.

My cheeks flushing, I turned back to the city, gripping my reins tightly and focusing on the palace at the center and the burgundy pennant above the flag of Surbino that indicated the queen was in residence.

If I pretended I wasn’t two seconds from flinging myself off Fluffy and into Andreas’s lap, maybe I’d be able to control myself and not do it at all.

Fifteen days since Andreas had told me he loved me more than life. He’d told me every day since, too. And it hadn’t gotten the slightest bit old. My heart fluttered, and I blushed and smiled like an idiot, and everyone around me could see how much I loved him and how helpless I was to hide it. The men were no doubt gritting their teeth with eagerness to be home and get the hell away from us and our lovestruck foolishness.

Mine, anyway. They wouldn’t dare show their impatience to Andreas.

What that said about their relative respect for their prince and their commander, I didn’t examine too closely—and I didn’t blame them, either. The right kind of look from Andreas had me on my knees, after all.

They were definitely happy to be going home instead of going on, though, one reason why I’d made the decision I had. The day after I woke up from my magical coma, Andreas had asked me if I still wanted to try to find another way across the river and attend the second half of my conclave.

I’d thought about the bridge and the ford and the imaginary ferry and the abduction and rescue, and Andreas coming an inch from death, and I’d laughed until I was red-faced and crying at the thought of continuing the journey. There was challenging the gods, and then there was outright stupidity. Andreas had expressed his relief and agreement, and kissed me, and that was that. We’d spent a few days recovering in Enzo’s surprisingly comfortable fort, in large part because Fluffy—whom I’d been abjectly grateful to see alive—had a cut on his shoulder that needed to heal. And then we’d set out for home.

“Two days still before we’re home,” I said. Casual conversation. I could do that. Speaking to Andreas felt awkward of late, laced with the tension of constant desire. It’d fade into comfort at some point, I expected, but for now it made every interaction difficult unless we were alone and I could tear his pants off. “It feels so long, though. I miss my bed.” Oh, gods, that sounded like an invitation. Of course, it was one. The tips of my ears burned. “Where do you think Enzo’s men are? The northern pass had so much more snow than this one.”

We’d paid Enzo handsomely to have a party of his men take Dario and the other prisoner to Surbino through the northern pass and then south along the other side of the mountains. Andreas had point-blank refused to take them with us. He didn’t want Dario within a mile of me. But they had to go to Surbino to be imprisoned and interrogated more thoroughly. Enzo was the solution.

His men operated on both sides of the mountains and, Enzo assured us, could take the prisoners through their native Calatria without attracting any attention or letting them ask for help or escape. Discretion was definitely called for. What little Andreas had gotten out of Dario suggested that he might not have been working for Duke Lucian at all, but against him, in the employ of one of his relatives, perhaps attempting to cause conflict with Surbino and use it to usurp rulership of Calatria. The details of the plot hadn’t been forthcoming, and we had no interest in attracting attention from anyone in Calatria before we could get enough information for my mother to evaluate the diplomatic implications.

I was relieved by what we’d learned, though. If Lucian hadn’t been involved, then it wasn’t an act of war. And the last thing I wanted was to be the cause, even indirectly, of more death.

Andreas had spent one more hour questioning Dario, spoken to the men intended to form the escort, and seemed satisfied to send them on their way. And having approved the outline of the plan, I left the details to him.

Which meant it was just the five of us going home, relaxed and taking it at an easy pace, spending more than one night in some places along the way if the weather was unusually unpleasant for traveling.

Andreas and I shared a room every night.

I was exhausted and well-used every morning, and the way he looked at me when I grimaced while getting into the saddle nearly sent us right back to bed.

But we were almost home. Where we’d have my own bed, soft and warm and private. Andreas could spend whole days between my legs. I could spend hours on my knees, on a soft rug in front of the fire.

A shiver went down my spine, and it had nothing to do with the cold wind.

“They might even be there before us,” Andreas said, startling me out of my fantasy. “They seemed like they were used to hard travel, and they’re surely not going to be taking the journey easy for their prisoners’ sakes. They’re planning to rough it, actually. Sleep out in the woods and avoid towns.”

He sounded deeply pleased by that, and I couldn’t help laughing. “They’re lucky not to be traveling with you.”

“Very, very lucky,” Andreas growled. “But I’m going to petition the queen to let me have a hand in continuing the questioning. So he won’t be lucky for long. That is, unless she throws me in the cell next to his.”

I glanced over at him.

He was looking at me again—or possibly still looking at me, smiling as if the possibility of being locked in a dungeon didn’t trouble him in the least.

Gods, he loved me so much. I swayed toward him. One kiss, and then—

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